BHIVA Travel Bursaries to CROI 2020 Funded By MSD Ltd

The British HIV Association have made provision for 8 scholarship awards funded by MSD Ltd to be made available to assist healthcare professionals to attend the forthcoming 27th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) to be held in Boston, USA on 7-11 March 2020. Scholarship awards are capped at a maximum of £2,000 each and are considered a contribution towards an award winner’s registration fee, travel and accommodation expenses.

Eligibility

Applications are invited from UK-based consultants, non-consultants and other healthcare professionals (including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, researchers, students) in the field of HIV medicine.

There will be a maximum of 8 awards available. A minimum of 4 of these places will be awarded to newly-appointed consultants (within first 5 years of appointment), non-consultant doctors and other healthcare professionals (within 7 years of current appointment).

Applicants must be members of BHIVA in 2019 and must renew their membership for 2020. In addition, applicants must have been a member for a minimum of three months prior to the application deadline (pre-6 September 2019).

Successful applicants from the BHIVA CROI Travel Bursary programmes held in 2017-2019 will not be eligible.

Applicants will be required to serve as members of the BHIVA 'Best of CROI' Working Party and assist in collecting data and creating slides. A condition of the scholarship is that they will also be expected to present at two of the BHIVA 'Best of CROI' Feedback Regional Meetings (w/c 23 March and 30 March 2020). Scholarship recipients will need to ensure availability for the meetings allocated to them, which may be any of the regional meetings across the UK.

The scholars should be prepared to request and to take annual leave, if necessary, in order to attend and travel to these two meetings. All travel and accommodation costs for participation at the CROI Feedback Meetings will be met by BHIVA in accordance with usual BHIVA policy.

How to apply

Applicants will need to complete the formal Application Form for travel bursaries for the 27th CROI Conference 2020. As part of the application form applicants will need to outline how they meet the criteria for registration and how attending the 2020 CROI conference will benefit themselves, and others, in their future career.

Applicants are required to submit their application form via email to conferences@bhiva.org. Application forms must be signed by hand, scanned and sent by email by the application deadline of Monday 9 December 2019, to be accepted for review by the BHIVA-appointed review panel.

Applicants will receive an email confirming receipt of their completed application form.

It is permissible for applicants to seek funding from other sources to supplement the bursary, however this must be declared to the secretariat so they are kept informed of the source and total funding made available.

Review Process and accepting your award

Following a review of all applications fulfilling the above criteria, applicants will be notified week commencing 16 December 2019 as to whether they have been successful. BHIVA’s decision is final and BHIVA will not enter into correspondence regarding the final decision.

All applicants will be required to register for the 27th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) to be held in Boston, USA on 7- 11 March 2020 and to ensure that their application for registration is accepted by the CROI Conference Secretariat before confirming acceptance of a scholarship place with BHIVA.

If any of the winning applicants fail to formally accept their award by the deadline of 20 December 2019, these awards will then be offered to other applicants who form a reserve list. Those applicants on the reserve list will be informed on 20 December 2019 as to whether they are currently being offered a place and will have until the deadline of 3 January 2020 to formally accept their award in writing or via email.

Requirements of accepting a travel bursary award

Following formal acceptance of their award, award winners are committed to attending the 27th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) to be held in Boston, USA on 7th -11th March 2020.

Award Winners will be responsible for registering for the conference and making their own travel, accommodation and subsistence arrangements. Applicants must hold a valid passport and necessary visas to travel to and from Boston, USA. Obtaining appropriate travel insurance and medical cover also remains the responsibility of the applicant.

Following attendance at the conference, award winners will need to apply for reimbursement, in writing, submitting original receipts for their registration fee, reasonable accommodation costs (max £120 per night for 5 nights) and travel expenses (economy or premium economy class airfares / transfers via public transport where feasible or by taxi). The scholarship award does not cover subsistence or any additional costs incurred by the award winner that fall outside of attending the CROI Conference.

Request for reimbursement of expenses must be received following return from conference and, within 14 days of return. (Deadline Friday 27 March 2020). You will be required to complete an expenses form declaring that submitted expenses have not been claimed for reimbursement from elsewhere.

Award winners are encouraged to submit a short report of their experience at the 27th Annual CROI Conference by 18 March 2020 for publication on the BHIVA website and/or an appropriate journal.

Award winners are encouraged to register and pay to attend the 26th Annual Conference of the British HIV Association in Manchester 27-29 April 2020 to receive a presentation of their scholarship award during the Prizes and Awards Ceremony.

In the event of exceptional unforeseen circumstances leading to an award winner determining that he or she is no longer able to attend the 27th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston, they must contact BHIVA in writing immediately to cancel their scholarship award. Any subsequent refunds for costs previously incurred (including cancellation charges) will be made at the sole discretion of BHIVA.

Transparency and Data Protection

a. MSD is required, by the ABPI Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry (the “ABPI Code”), to document and publically disclose certain transfers of value made to health professionals and healthcare organisations, and these include information about the payments or other transfers of value provided under this CROI Bursary. Accordingly, by accepting and award under Agreement, you consent to Medivents providing details of awards made under the CROI Bursary programme, for the purposes of MSD and/or its affiliates: Storing, processing and using such information relating to you and arising out of the CROI Bursary for the purposes of its business (including, without limitation, your name and the amount and/or value of the transfer made to you under the CROI Bursary);

b. Making public disclosures of such information consistent with the ABPI Code and with applicable laws, from time to time in force. Such disclosure may be made using any media, including printed reports, electronic communication, the web-site of MSD or its affiliates or other platforms;

c. Disclosing such information to the ABPI, its contractors and sub-contractors as may be required in furtherance of the objectives of the ABPI Code which include monitoring the activities of member companies and those agreeing to abide by the ABPI Code to ensure compliance with the terms and spirit of the ABPI Code, particularly in relation to the prohibition of inducements to supply or prescribe particular products;

d. Transferring such information to other affiliates and/or to any third party providing services to MSD, who may be established in jurisdictions outside the European Economic Area including the USA, for the purpose of storage, use and public disclosure of such information and/or to comply with codes of practice and laws applicable in other jurisdictions to MSD and / or its affiliates concerning transfers of value made to health professionals and healthcare organisations.

e. All personal data will be stored and processed in accordance with applicable laws such as the Data Protection Act 1998. If you wish to inform MSD that personal information about you requires updating or amending or deleting, you should either write in the first instance to the CRM Manager, MSD, Hertford Road, Hoddesdon, Herts, EN11 9BU or email ukcrmdept@merck.com. Please note that MSD may be required to retain or disclose your data to comply with legal or regulatory requirements.